The favourite of nature and of fashion,
this was the first time in the life of Egremont, that he had
been made conscious that there was something in his position
which, with all its superficial brilliancy, might prepare for
him, when youth had fled and the blaze of society grown dim, a
drear and bitter lot.
He was roused from his reveries by a painful change in the
demeanour of his adored. The mother of the Lady Arabella was
alarmed. She liked her daughter to be admired even by younger
sons when they were distinguished, but only at a distance. Mr
Egremont's name had been mentioned too often. It had appeared
coupled with her daughters, even in a Sunday paper. The most
decisive measures were requisite, and they were taken. Still
smiling when they met, still kind when they conversed, it
seemed, by some magic dexterity which even baffled Egremont,
that their meetings every day grew rarer, and their
opportunities for conversation less frequent. At the end of
the season, the Lady Arabella selected from a crowd of
admirers equally qualified, a young peer of great estate, and
of the "old nobility," a circumstance which, as her
grandfather had only been an East India director, was very
gratifying to the bride.
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